Summary
Reservoir simulation studies allow engineers to identify development strategies that can maximize the economic recovery of hydrocarbon resources. During the life of a field, the reservoir engineer confronts numerous decisions about the placement and operation of wells for production or injection. Traditionally, engineers evaluate the costs and benefits associated with competing development strategies by using reservoir simulation tools in different scenarios. The numerical reservoir simulator is used in forecasting recovery of reserves under existing production schemes and in evaluating the effects of changing operating conditions. This approach limits the overall benefit of a field study because it does not consider the effects that flows in wellbores and surface facilities have on the economic performance of the recovery programs. Yet, the costs of compression, separation, fluid injection, or water treatment can have a significant effect on the success of production strategies. When the goal is to identify an optimal hydrocarbon-recovery scheme, a compelling case arises for the computational integration of subsurface- and surface-simulation technologies.
In this paper, we discuss an integrated computational solution for management of reservoir-production strategies and field development. The approach is implemented by coupling a reservoir simulator (Eclipse) with a surface and production network simulator and optimizer (Netopt). Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) interface provides the coupling communication mechanism that integrates the two simultaneously running simulators. At each timestep, the network simulator and the reservoir simulator provide a consistent integrated solution after rate and pressure convergence is achieved within a predetermined tolerance.
